When most businesses look to employ a new method of marketing  the hardest part is getting buy in from the powers that be. Take one of  our clients for example, a super smart guy who had been in the digital  signage market for over a decade. When trying to employ a digital  signage network for his school it took him eight years.
  
 Why? Because there were so many elements to consider. What hardware  would fit the mould and be affordable, what software would work for  their organizational aims, who would manage it and what quantifiable  benefit could they measure to ensure return on spend?
  
 Fortunately, many of these elements can be solved by putting together a  digital signage business plan. If, like many of us at ScreenCloud,  you’re a momentum maker – someone who wants to get on with getting those  screens up on the walls, you may think why bother? But by preparing a  quick plan you’ll get into the nitty gritty of your digital signage.  This helps with sign-off, makes you laser focused on the potential of  your digital screens and in the long-run, makes for much more effective  displays. 

Choose an objective
  
 First stop: why are you implementing digital signage in the first place?  Without an objective it’s going to be hard to achieve sign off and  measure results. In agile project management and marketing, objectives  are set by creating user ‘stories’. This can be a great way to visualize  the aims for your digital signage displays. For example:

As a staff member, I know what’s going on in the company and this makes me more content in my job role. 
  
 In education, your story may sound something like:
  
 As a teacher I am able to share information to students that helps them perform better and enjoy more engaging lessons. 
  
 In retail perhaps your story is more sales orientated:
  
 As a customer I know about the latest monthly offers, which helps me to spend my money more wisely. 
  
 Alternatively, you could use the SMART objective setting method, finding  a digital signage goal which is specific, measurable, attainable,  relevant and timely. This could be something as simple as helping your  production floor to have more awareness of their productivity levels, or  raising sales around a specific campaign such as Christmas. 

Make it visual
  
 Get your user story or SMART objective up on the wall. If it’s the key  driver of your business plan it should be a daily reminder helping to  spur you onwards.  
  
 Get wider buy in
  
 Prepare some general benefits of digital signage, using statistics such as these.  The power of digital signage is huge and many organizations are  realizing the benefit, so this can help support your use case. Think  bigger; can digital signage increase your revenue or reduce spend?
  
 Case in point: digital signage wayfinding saves on staff who need to  direct customers and on printed static signs. Social media walls  increase engagement helping marketing to achieve their objectives more  quickly. Trello boards that track team productivity could help increase collaboration between teams, making project process faster.
  
 Think of the wider benefits to your organization and make a clear case  for why you need digital signage over say, printed collateral or more  staff. Screens look good sure, but chances are there’s a deeper use case  for why they’re going to be so effective for your organization.

Select your hardware
  
 A section of your digital signage business plan should focus on the  practicalities of how you’ll actually get those screens up on the walls.  Fortunately, we have a great hardware selector tool that will help!
  
 This will determine whether to use screens you already have, if you need  new ones and even what to do with that iPad or tablet you have lying  around. The hardware is often perceived as the most daunting part to  digital signage protégées but in fact, it’s one of the easiest!
  
 Usually, you’ll have two choices that will be the deciding factor. If  you have a Smart TV that’s connected to the internet, you can set up  cloud-based software such as ScreenCloud and not need any additional parts, media players or laptops.
  
 If you don’t have a Smart TV you’re usually best to add screen + media  device which will help turn your dumb screen ‘smart’. Some of our  favorites are the Chromecast with Google TV and the Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K, our ScreenCloud OS device, the Station P1 Pro, and the Intel NUC Celeron and Asus Chromebox 4. Check our article on the best media player options for digital signage on a budget to learn more.

Consider the practical elements
  
 Here’s where many take a wrong turn; you pick a beautiful screen, get it  up on the wall then quickly realize it’s impractical for your  particular use case.
  
 Instead, visualize where your screen will be going. What height should  it be at? Will the public, or students, be able to turn it off? If  tampering is an issue, you may want to consider a screen such as the  ones from Allsee with hidden buttons and controls.
  
 If you’re using an iPad or tablet you may want to fix them in a Bouncepad or similar, to ensure that the screen can’t be lost or removed.
  
 Is ambient light an issue? In a light atrium, you’ll want to check the  screen spec for high visibility in bright lighting conditions.

Narrow down the options and make a pros and cons sheet for each.
  
 Making the hardware selection process as easy as possible will make your job (and your boss’) much easier in the long run.

Check compatibility
  
 Not too long ago digital signage software was clunky and took a team of  IT experts to help set up. Now, the market is incredibly different.  Modern digital signage software is cloud-based, meaning it can be  accessed from any smart TV (or regular TV enabled with a smart device).  This makes compatibility much easier.
  
 Yet even with cloud-based software you’ll want to think about if your  screen will have a strong Wi-Fi connection from where it’s positioned.  If you’re using a media device such as an Amazon Fire Stick, is there a  place where it can be easily hidden or shelved?

Consider software management
  
 When choosing a piece of software, a free trial will quickly help you  get to grips with the benefits. As part of this process, you’ll want to  try and view the software from the perspective of the people managing  it.
  
 For example, some digital signage software relies on API integration. Is  your head of department, or social media manager technical enough?
  
 Then there are logistical questions such as where the software can be  managed from, how easy it is to update and whether changes can be made  remotely.

Think about scale
  
 Can the software you’re choosing now for your one screen scale when you  want to add 50 more? Is there an enterprise-level price break? Is it  easy to add (or remove) more screens at a later date? Projecting into  your one, two or five-year digital signage plan will help you make the  right choice early on and save switching at a later date.

During the software selection process consider creating an overview  of content that will show what you plan to do with the digital signage  network once in place.
  
 This combats what we like to call the ‘set it and forget it’ mindset  where screens get placed on walls but never have content on show, or  content that’s so out-of-date it might as well not be showing.

Content type; owned, curated and apps
  
 You may already have content you want to share for example;  presentations, reports, websites, internal wikis and intranets. In this  case, ensure compatibility then list your owned resources and why you  plan to show them.
  
 Many digital signage software systems (including ScreenCloud) offer App Stores.  Here, you can choose from a range of apps that mould content you’ve  already produced (for example social media) or provide curated content  for you to share. This could be news feeds, weather apps, local travel  information, visualizations of your dashboards, Trello boards or live  sports scores.
  
 Again, link this back to your objectives and your use cases. Why do you  want to show travel information? What is it about social media walls  that would be a good fit for your company?
  
 It’s much easier to quantify and create a content plan when you know why you’re setting it up in the first place!

Content management and updates
  
 As well as the type of content you’ll show, consider how you’ll manage  content in a month, or a year’s time. Will you have multiple users  who'll have access or one dedicated digital signage master? Will you use  content that updates itself (such as social media and news feeds) or  will presentations and reports need manual updates at certain points?
  
 A schedule of updates or a digital signage content calendar will show  that digital signage is part of your long-term plan. It will also ensure  that content doesn’t sit stagnant after the initial installation.
  
 Branding and design
  
 If you’re planning on creating some of your own digital menu boards,  notices or presentations, factor in any design resource needed early on.  This reduces the levels of approval needed and keeps Design involved in  the process so they know exactly what they’re designing for and why. 

Once your nuts and bolts are in place, consider how, why and when you will measure them. In this post  we discuss the benefits of return on objective vs return on investment.  Both are great measurements that will help you to work out how  successful your screens and strategy are. To help keep this measurable  remember:

1. Nail your target audience
  
 Answer these questions  to uncover your digital signage audience personas. This will help  determine what content to show, the pace of your content and how often  to change it. Objectives need to be measured periodically, so your  audience will go some way to telling when they should be measured -  whether that’s daily, weekly or year-on-year. 
  
 2. Link back to organizational aims
  
 Just like any other marketing strategy, the objective of your digital  signage screens is to improve or enhance your organization in some way.  Find out the real benefits, link them back and determine how you will  measure each and every one. If it’s staff happiness you want to improve,  survey staff or create a simple feedback form. To raise your social  media following through the roof, track stats, ask people where they  came from and include a campaign-specific offer code. All of which, will  help you ensure you’re making a difference to your organization – not  just your walls.
  
 3. Improve and adjust
  
 Digital signage isn’t an exact science. The best marketing managers and  content creators need to pivot, adjust, test and redesign. As such a  prominent medium you can usually get a good gist for how your displays  are doing. If they aren’t working, the beauty of digital signage is that  you can change them as easily as you might update a Facebook cover  image or a slide in a presentation. Switch the content and test again.  Unlike static signs, there’s no permanence to your campaigns so you can  really drill into the bits that work and improve the ones that don’t. 

Now you’ve done the hard bit, the rest is easy. Head to ScreenCloud set up your free trial and boom, you’re ready to go!

A business plan guide for your digital signage displays including hardware, software, content, return on objectives and compliance with your long-term aims.

We show you the quickest way to kick off your digital signage vision!

How to Create a Digital Signage Business Plan

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How to Create a Digital Signage Business Plan

How to Create a Digital Signage Business Plan

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